Many people doing
extreme sports like the feeling that if they mess up what they are doing one
bit, they are most likely either going to die, or be in a lot of pain with a
lot of broken bones. Of course, people didn’t just suddenly start to do
these sports, but a lot of them were not done in public for a while because
they were illegal in a lot of places around the world.
New extreme sports
are born every day, and extreme sports are becoming more and more popular as
well. Now that most extreme sports are legal, they are much more globally
accepted, but sometimes, are not accepted, such as base jumping off of a
national monument.
One sport that you
might have tried before, an extreme and popular sport, is snowboarding. The
first snowboard was created in Lake Tahoe by a man named Sherman Poppen in
1965. He created it by putting a pair of skis together, thus creating the
Snurfer, which is what he called the first snowboard. Next thing you know,
all the kids were putting their skis together. Also, companies started to
produce a modernized version of Sherman Poppen’s “Snurfer”.
Rock climbing,
another extreme sport, became popular from a man named Sir Alfred Wills
after he wrote a book about his adventure up a mountain. After it was
written, rock climbing became much more popular all around the world.
On a Saturday
night, you and your friends go out to the roller rink to go roller-skating.
The roller-skates was invented in 1863 by James L Plimpton in New York, New
York. Later, the roller skates were modernized into what people roller
blades.
Inline
skating, or roller blading, was created in the basement of Scott and Brennan
Olsen in 1979. They took a Chicago Skate Company skates that they found in a
bargain bin and made them much more stable and added urethane wheels. Inline
skating is now a very popular sport in many skating competitions
Another popular
extreme sport is Motocross. Motocross is a type of motorcycle race, usually
on a dirt track with many bumps and jumps throughout the course. Motocross
is for very skilled motorcycle racers for they must be able to clear over
all of the obstacles and sharply turn with agility. In 1867, Sylvester Roper
built the first steam powered engine motorcycle. In 1904 was when the first
motocross championship was made and in 1909, the Federation Internationale
de Motocycisme was formed. In Britain, they started to have off-road
motorcycle contests between 1910 and 1930. In the early 70’s, the American
Motorcyclist Association (AMA) was born.
The bicycle, which
is one of the most used vehicles in the world, was made in the 1800’s in
Europe. In 1963, Schwinn created the closest thing that they had to a BMX
bike, “The Stingray”. A man named Scott Breithaupt created one of the first
dirt tracks for BMX racing, and had many races with others. In 1974 in
Southern California, Bob Haro and R.L. Osborn started to do something called
freestyle riding, which is where skilled bike riders do tricks on their
bikes in competitions and are rated by judges.
One of the most
enthralling extreme sports is called B.A.S.E. Jumping. Modern B.A.S.E.
Jumping was starting around 1978 when the B.A.S.E. Association was formed.
B.A.S.E. stands for Buildings, Antenna Towers, Span, and Earth. To join this
association, you must jump off of each of the surfaces.
Bungee
jumping is another very extreme sport, although statistics show that bungee
jumping is safer than driving a car(http://ink.news.com.au/mercury/mathguys/articles/1998/980120a1.htm).
Bungee jumping was started on an island, based from a legend the islanders
shared. The legend was about a woman running from her abusive husband. She
goes up a tree and ties a vine to her ankles. She walks off the tree and her
husband falls to his death trying to grab her while she is saved from the
vine. Bungee jumping was first seen by Westerners when National Geographic
came to the island. One of the people from the National Geographic, Kal
Muller was “The first Outsider to attempt the heart stopping plunge” When
this sport got to the public in 1979, the Oxford University’s Dangerous
Sportsman’s Club decided to take a go at it. They jumped off of a 250 foot
bridge using bungees.
For a long time,
humans have had the desire to fly. They built machines like airplanes, but
with no motor. These machines are called gliders. Gliding is a very
dangerous sport in which the person must use wind to their advantage and
keep their aircraft in the air. The first gliding competition was held in
1920 in Wasserkuppe, Germany.
Hang gliding
is another popular air sport. The first hang glider was built and flown by a
German man named Otto Lilienthal. Hang gliding is when you get a pair of
wing like things and you glide through the air, which is a big thrill. If
you wanted to feel like a bird, this is probably the closest you’ll ever
get.
Gliding and
hang gliding are two very different sports, besides the fact that they both
have to do with flying. Gliding is when you are in an airplane, except with
no motor. People have many competitions for gliding, trying to get as far as
they can using nothing but the power of the wind. Hang gliding is when you
attach things that are like wings and need nothing but perhaps a hill to
jump off of.
Probably the most
common extreme sport, skateboarding was created nearly 40 years ago. The
first skateboard was made from a child’s toy, a “Push-Scooter”.
Waterskiing is a
popular sport around lakes and beaches, but for Chuck Sligh of Winter Haven,
Florida in 1947 didn’t think waterskiing was exciting enough, so he thought
he’d try and make it more challenging by waterskiing with no skis. He was
not the first to do it, because he got someone named AG Hancock to do it.
Another extremely
popular aquatic sort is the aquatic motorcycle, also known as the Jet Ski.
The Jet Ski was created by a man named Clayton Jacobson in 1965.
People have been
sailing over the open seas for hundreds of years. They had dozens of crew
members to keep the ship sailing. But in 1895, Joshua Slocam sailed across
the world single-handedly, with no crew. The captain, and only man on board,
must have immense knowledge of sailing, or their ship may go down.
In the Hawaiian
Islands, surfing is a sport that almost everyone takes part in. Surfing was
started in small Pacific Islands and spread too all different islands and
places with coasts. Competitions are held all around the world for many
different prizes.
Skiing is a very
popular sport around the mountain ranges, but some wanted to spice it up by
making it more extreme. They did this by propelling themselves off of a jump
going at top speed. Supposedly, the first Nordic Skiing competition was held
in 1892. Ski jumping was introduced into the Winter Olympics in the year
1924.
One of the most
popular of extreme sports, and definitely one of the most extreme,
parachuting is done by people around the world. The first sighting of a
parachute-like device being used was in 12th century China. The
next was in 16th Century Venice but the first documented use of
the parachute was in 1783. In 1797, a crowd of people watched Andre Germain
as he was about to jump, using a parachute. In 1808, a very important thing
happened. Jodaki Kuparento was in a balloon as it caught fire. He had to
jump out of the balloon and using his emergency parachute, he survived.
People have lately
enjoyed a sport called rock climbing but for those who do not have the funds
for all the equipment, go to something called an ACW wall. ACW stands for
Artificial Climbing Wall. There are some places that are dedicated to this
sport, and many gyms also have walls that you can climb if you are educated
enough to know how to use the equipment. Competitions for ACW climbing, for
difficulty and speed, have been being organized since 1987 when the Soviets
held speed climbing events. The first world championships were in 1991 in
Frankfurt, Germany.
New
extreme sports are being made up by people every day and the sports will
continue to become more extreme and possibly controversial in some
countries. People have had the urge for a thrill all throughout history,
still do now, and will long in the future.
